“Hurry up and call him back. Of all the places to go, he had to go there, he really has a death wish!” Jia Wujie said.
Dang Ji accepted the order and was about to withdraw when Jia Wujie suddenly stopped him.
“Wait! No, don’t call him back directly. It might arouse suspicion among the others. Instead, cook up some kind of accident so he can’t go wandering around anymore,” Jia Wujie instructed.
Dang Ji looked puzzled. “Your Eminence, what kind of accident would keep him from wandering around?”
Looking at how hopeless Dang Ji was, Jia Wujie said with a trace of anger, “Do I have to teach you this myself? Make it rain, whip up a wind or just break his legs. Understood?”
Dang Ji nodded. “This subordinate understands.”
Jia Wujie looked at Dang Ji below the dais. Dang Ji was the strongest of his guards, but his every strike was a killing move, he had no sense of restraint. Jia Wujie worried that Dang Ji might accidentally kill that fragile human outright.
He waved a hand. “Forget it, forget it. I’ll go myself!”
At the cliff, three people, each tied to a rope, clung to the sheer rock face.
On one side, Cang Gui climbed the rocks with practiced ease, searching for nethergrass that was hard for others to spot. The situation on the other side was far less optimistic.
There, Chi Xian hugged a withered tree growing out of the cliff face, wailing in utter despair.
“Help! I’m going to die! Cang Gui, why are you climbing so fast? Someone save me! Pull me up! Second Brother! Second Brother! We can’t go any lower! I feel like I’m going to die, I’m afraid of heights!”
Xu Baizhou tugged at the rope fastened around his waist. It was made of a special material, and the knots tied into it used methods he had learned online in his past life extremely secure, unlikely to fail.
“Stop yelling. The ropes are perfectly safe. Let’s go down and take a look, there might really be nethergrass down there!”
These past few days, Xu Baizhou had been learning the art of alchemy from Chi Xian. Because of that misunderstanding, Chi Xian was clearly teaching far more diligently than before, and Xu Baizhou learned quickly too, he had already memorized the properties and uses of several basic demonic plants. Then, just the night before, while Xu Baizhou was flipping through a book Chi Xian used to prop up a table leg, a bird suddenly flew into the courtyard.
From its round, plump body, Xu Baizhou recognized it as the fat chicken that had been chased into the courtyard by a Demonic Beast that day. But strangely, today the bird wasn’t being chased by anything, it had clearly found its way here on its own.
And in its beak, it held a sprig of nethergrass.
“For me?” Xu Baizhou asked. He truly couldn’t think of any reason the bird would give him nethergrass, what he’d done that day could hardly be called a kindness by any stretch.
When the bird saw Xu Baizhou notice the nethergrass in its beak, it seemed to want to lead him somewhere, and flew off out of the courtyard.
Could it be trying to take me to where nethergrass grows? Thinking this, Xu Baizhou followed.
The nights in the Demonic Realm were darker and quieter. After who knew how long, the bird finally stopped.
Xu Baizhou walked forward and saw a sheer cliff before him.
“You’re saying there’s nethergrass below this cliff?”
The fat bird chirped twice, as if in reply.
Xu Baizhou observed the cliff before him once more. The night was silent, and below the cliff was pitch black, nothing could be made out. It seemed he would have to come back tomorrow.
Not long after the bird had led Xu Baizhou here, it flew away. Not daring to stay outside alone for too long, Xu Baizhou returned. Early the next morning, he told Chi Xian Cang Gui about it, wanting to go take a look beneath the cliff.
“Aiyo, my dear brother, my ancestor! Forget nethergrass even if there were gold down there, we can’t be making money at the cost of our lives, can we?” Chi Xian wailed.
Seeing that Chi Xian clearly didn’t want to go any further down, Xu Baizhou said, “I never intended for you to accompany me in the first place, you insisted on coming along. I figured, since we’re already here, wouldn’t it be a shame not to go down and take a look?”
“What kind of talk is that, sir? If you’re going down the cliff, would I dare not accompany you? If anything happened to you on my watch, wouldn’t the Venerable take my life!”
Here we go again, Xu Baizhou thought helplessly. “So, are you going down or not?”
“Down, down, down! Risking my life to accompany my ancestor! If the two of us make it back alive today, that’ll be a bond forged through life and death. You’ll have to put in a few good words for me with the Demon Venerable later. Second Brother, this little brother will go first!”
With that, Chi Xian shut his eyes and leaped down, landing on another piece of dead wood.
Was that really necessary? It was just jumping down a cliff wasn’t there still a rope tied around his waist? And now it had turned into a bond forged through life and death.
Xu Baizhou let out more rope and continued climbing down.
Amid Chi Xian’s incessant shrieking and howling the whole way, Cang Gui’s voice finally came from below.
“Th-this place, th-th-th-there’s nethergrass!”
Hearing this, Xu Baizhou looked down to see that Cang Gui seemed to have found a spot where a person could stand, and was waving at him and Chi Xian. And beneath his feet, nethergrass was growing in abundance!
“We found it—it really is there. Let’s hurry down!” Xu Baizhou said, then turned his head to see Chi Xian sprawled once more on a dead tree. Who knew how he managed to find so many dead trees so precisely on this cliff?
Chi Xian was drenched in sweat, his face pale, as if he had used up all his strength.
“Se-Second Brother, y-you you you go down first. This little brother will rest here for a, a while,” Chi Xian said.
How did he start stammering too? Xu Baizhou thought to himself. But seeing that Chi Xian really had exhausted himself, Xu Baizhou said, “All right, be careful then. I’m going down to take a look.”
Xu Baizhou continued downward, and with Cang Gui’s assistance, landed steadily on the ground.
This place was not the bottom of the cliff, but a platform jutting out from the mountainside just large enough for people to stand on. And on this very platform, nethergrass truly grew in plenty.
So that fat chicken didn’t lie to me, Xu Baizhou thought.
But just as the two of them were harvesting the nethergrass, a beast’s roar suddenly rang out.
The roar was deafening, as if it had sounded right beside Xu Baizhou’s ear!
Cang Gui had clearly heard it too. He drew a blade from behind his back, shielded Xu Baizhou behind him, and warily looked toward the direction of the sound.
There, hidden beneath the vegetation, was an enormous cave in the cliff face and now a massive creature emerged from it, glaring ferociously at the two uninvited guests on the platform.
It was a Demonic Beast as huge as a fierce tiger!
And behind that great beast followed a smaller one, apparently its child.
Xu Baizhou recognized the little Demonic Beast at once wasn’t this the one that had barged into his courtyard that day and been worked like a donkey by him all night!
No wonder it looked so dim-witted; it turned out it wasn’t even fully grown yet.
The smaller Demonic Beast clearly recognized Xu Baizhou too. It kept baring its teeth at him, then made a sound unique to young beasts in its throat toward the larger one, as if accusing Xu Baizhou of the crime of employing child labor.
Great, what a narrow road for enemies.
No wait, Xu Baizhou suddenly realized, it wasn’t a narrow road for enemies. The fact that he’d run into these two Demonic Beasts today was entirely thanks to that fat chicken.
This Demonic Realm truly had no good creatures not even a bird, with its eight hundred schemes!
The large Demonic Beast, having heard the young one’s accusation, was clearly furious. It raised its head and let out an even louder roar, then charged toward Cang Gui and Xu Baizhou.
Cang Gui swiftly pulled Xu Baizhou out of the way of one strike, and immediately after, the young beast lunged at the two of them.
Fortunately, the platform was small, and the two beasts’ large bodies were unwieldy, while Cang Gui’s skills were genuinely good, after several exchanges, he actually managed to keep Xu Baizhou safe.
“Cang Gui! Protect my Second Brother!” Chi Xian shouted anxiously from above.
But Cang Gui was, after all, only a low-ranking Demon, and he had Xu Baizhou as a burden besides. The beasts were ferocious, and after several rounds, Cang Gui could no longer hold out. The beast lunged again, a flash of cold light and Cang Gui, unable to dodge, had his shoulder raked by sharp claws. Several bloody gashes appeared instantly.
Cang Gui let out a muffled grunt; this blow was clearly a heavy injury for him.
“Cang Gui, go! Forget about me for now!” Xu Baizhou said.
But Cang Gui refused to leave. The beast lunged at them again, ferociously fast this time, the two of them would likely be unable to withstand it.
“Cang Gui, Second Brother! I’m coming!”
Chi Xian’s shout came from above, but Xu Baizhou had no time to pay attention. Watching the beast pounce toward him, he could clearly see its sharp claws and the streams of saliva in its gaping maw.
At this moment, Xu Baizhou felt little fear. He only felt regret, he had insisted on his own way and dragged Cang Gui and Chi Xian down with him.
The beast was clearly coming for him. If he drew it away, perhaps Cang Gui would have a chance to escape, Xu Baizhou thought.
As the large beast closed in, Xu Baizhou suddenly shoved Cang Gui aside with all his strength, and under the force of the push, his whole body was thrown off the platform.
The large Demonic Beast hadn’t expected Xu Baizhou to make such a sudden move, and by momentum, it plunged over the cliff after him.
Seeing the large beast fall, the young beast crouched at the edge of the platform, crying out urgently and repeatedly.
Excellent, Xu Baizhou thought. Now Cang Gui and Chi Xian would both be safe.
The fall was faster than Xu Baizhou had imagined nothing like the beautiful scenes on TV. He felt like a heavy boulder plummeting downward, the wind whipping his face until it stung.
Yet, surprisingly, Xu Baizhou felt it wasn’t bad. Rather than dying himself, what he feared more was causing someone else’s death.
And then, suddenly, Xu Baizhou’s fall stopped.
Time seemed to freeze; only the mountain wind howled past his ears.
Xu Baizhou’s eyes snapped open, and only then did he realize it wasn’t that time had stopped, it was that he had been caught midair by someone.
Jia Wujie held Xu Baizhou in his arms, hovering between the mountain cliffs, frowning as he looked at him.
“Alive again.”
Not knowing what he was feeling, Xu Baizhou suddenly blurted out those words.
“Mm, thanks to me, of course,” Jia Wujie replied.